LCWU administration in a fix | Medical students' protest

LCWU awaits nominations
Lahore, July 21: The delay on the part of the Punjab Assembly Speaker to nominate
three members of the assembly as members of the syndicate of the Lahore College
for Women University has put the university administration in a fix, which is
unable to approve budget and many other important tasks including
appointments.

It is learnt that during the last couple of months, LCWU
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bushra Mateen wrote several times to Punjab Assembly
Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan to nominate three members of the assembly as
members syndicate but to no avail.

The term of the LCWU Syndicate members
had expired in March 2009 and since then the university had been waiting for new
members of the body. It is pertinent to mention here that in May 2009, the
Punjab governor and chancellor of the university had nominated four new members,
including an MNA and two MPAs.

A senior LCWU official, seeking anonymity said that as per the Lahore College for Women University, Lahore
(Amendment) Act 2004: "The syndicate shall consist of three women members of the
provincial assembly of the Punjab to be nominated by the Speaker of the assembly
and four persons of eminence to be nominated by the chancellor."

She said
that interestingly, three of the persons of eminence, nominated by
Chancellor/Governor Salmaan Taseer, were also parliamentarians. Therefore, the
LCWU would be having five MPAs and one MNA in its syndicate "as if we will have
an assembly session during our syndicate meeting," she said.

The LCWU
syndicate members, nominated by Chancellor/Governor, who are parliamentarians,
include MNA Mehreen Anwar Raja and MPAs Shabina Riaz Sheikh and Talat Yaqoob,
the official said, adding that usually senior educationists, retired civil
servants or those having prominence in any field were nominated under the
category of persons of eminence.

She said the number of members of the
provincial assembly in the LCWU Syndicate was already higher that other public
sector universities, including the Punjab University, where the Speaker has to
nominate only one member of the provincial assembly.

The official
further said that in February, the university had advertised various posts,
however, the process could not take place in the absence of the syndicate. "We
are receiving frequent calls from the applicants but we are helpless," she
said.

The LCWU official said that in the absence of the syndicate, the
budget could not be approved. "The LCWU has yet to approve budget for 2009-10
while many other universities, including the Punjab University, have approved
their budgets," she said and added: "We cannot utilise our funds either.

When contacted, LCWU VC Dr Bushra Mateen confirmed that she had written
more than twice to the Speaker for nomination of members of the provincial
assembly for university' syndicate. She, however, refused to comment
further.

When contacted on cell phone, Javed, who introduced himself as
the son of PA Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, said the PA Speaker was out of
country to perform Umrah. Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Mashhood Ahmad
Khan, when contacted, said syndicate members for the Punjab University had
recently been nominated, adding that members for the LCWU would be nominated in
a week or so. The News

Medical students' protest: Ambulances blocked, traffic disrupted on Jail Road
Lahore: Dozens of students studying on self-finance in different medical
colleges across the province protested for their demands on Jail Road, causing
traffic jams and blocking the passage of ambulances coming to and from Services
Hospital, the Punjab Institute of Cardiology and other nearby hospitals for at
least two hours.

The protesters, all self-finance students or their
parents, demanded reduction in college dues since the chief minister (CM) has
abolished the self-finance scheme.

The traffic remained disrupted on many
roads linking The Canal, Government Officers Residence-I, Shadman and China
Chowk. District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajjad Ahmad Bhutta tried to convince
the protesters to clear the road.

Chief minister's Task Force on Health
Chairman Dr Saeed Elahi reached the spot and took the students' representatives
to the office of the health secretary.

Elahi told the reporters that he
would discuss the technicalities of the matter with the secretary concerned and
send a report to the CM.

He said he personally believed in treating all
the students equally but it was the discretion of the authorities concerned to
decide on the issue.

The students, meanwhile, demanded the medical
colleges stop charging an amount of Rs 0.25 million per annum after the CM
abolished the self-finance scheme in the greater interest of the
students.

They said a majority of them belonged to middle-class families
and their parents had to either take loans or sell their properties to finance
their studies.

The students alleged that the quota for self-finance had
been created after reducing the number of seats for open merit. They said they
had got admission on merit but had to pay extra dues only because their names
came on the self-finance lists. They termed the self-finance scheme a ploy of
the previous government to make money. They said almost 1,400 medical students
were studying on self-finance across the province. Daily Times